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awed-frog · 4 years

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The Other America

by Martin Luther King Jr., 1967

[This is the ‘a riot is the language of the unheard’ speech. It is a masterpiece of human decency, wisdom, rhetoric and political clarity, and sadly its message remains as important and urgent as it was 50 years ago. Please read it.]

Members of the faculty and members of the student body of this great institution of learning; ladies and gentlemen.

Now there are several things that one could talk about before such a large, concerned, and enlightened audience. There are so many problems facing our nation and our world, that one could just take off anywhere. But today I would like to talk mainly about the race problems since I'll have to rush right out and go to New York to talk about Vietnam tomorrow. and I've been talking about it a great deal this week and weeks before that.

But I'd like to use a subject from which to speak this afternoon, the Other America.

And I use this subject because there are literally two Americas. One America is beautiful for situation. And, in a sense, this America is overflowing with the milk of prosperity and the honey of opportunity. This America is the habitat of millions of people who have food and material necessities for their bodies; and culture and education for their minds; and freedom and human dignity for their spirits. In this America, millions of people experience every day the opportunity of having life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in all of their dimensions. And in this America millions of young people grow up in the sunlight of opportunity.

But tragically and unfortunately, there is another America. This other America has a daily ugliness about it that constantly transforms the ebulliency of hope into the fatigue of despair. In this America millions of work-starved men walk the streets daily in search for jobs that do not exist. In this America millions of people find themselves living in rat-infested, vermin-filled slums. In this America people are poor by the millions. They find themselves perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

In a sense, the greatest tragedy of this other America is what it does to little children. Little children in this other America are forced to grow up with clouds of inferiority forming every day in their little mental skies. As we look at this other America, we see it as an arena of blasted hopes and shattered dreams. Many people of various backgrounds live in this other America. Some are Mexican Americans, some are Puerto Ricans, some are Indians, some happen to be from other groups. Millions of them are Appalachian whites. But probably the largest group in this other America in proportion to its size in the Population is the American Negro.

The American Negro finds himself living in a triple ghetto. A ghetto of race, a ghetto of poverty, a ghetto of human misery. So what we are seeking to do in the Civil Rights Movement is to deal with this problem. To deal with this problem of the two Americas. We are seeking to make America one nation, Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Now let me say that the struggle for Civil Rights and the struggle to make these two Americas one America, is much more difficult today than it was five or ten years ago. For about a decade or maybe twelve years, we've struggled all across the South in glorious struggles to get rid of legal, overt segregation and all of the humiliation that surrounded that system of segregation.

In a sense this was a struggle for decency; we could not go to a lunch counter in so many instances and get a hamburger or a cup of coffee. We could not make use of public accommodations. Public transportation was segregated, and often we had to sit in the back and within transportation — transportation within cities — we often had to stand over empty seats because sections were reserved for whites only. We did not have the right to vote in so many areas of the South. And the struggle was to deal with these problems.

And certainly they were difficult problems, they were humiliating conditions. By the thousands we protested these conditions. We made it clear that it was ultimately more honorable to accept jail cell experiences than to accept segregation and humiliation. By the thousands students and adults decided to sit in at segregated lunch counters to protest conditions there. When they were sitting at those lunch counters they were in reality standing up for the best in the American dream and seeking to take the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Many things were gained as a result of these years of struggle. In 1964 the Civil Rights Bill came into being after the Birmingham movement which did a great deal to subpoena the conscience of a large segment of the nation to appear before the judgment seat of morality on the whole question of Civil Rights. After the Selma movement in 1965 we were able to get a Voting Rights Bill. And all of these things represented strides.

But we must see that the struggle today is much more difficult. It's more difficult today because we are struggling now for genuine equality. It's much easier to integrate a lunch counter than it is to guarantee a livable income and a good solid job. It's much easier to guarantee the right to vote than it is to guarantee the right to live in sanitary, decent housing conditions. It is much easier to integrate a public park than it is to make genuine, quality, integrated education a reality. And so today we are struggling for something which says we demand genuine equality.

It's not merely a struggle against extremist behavior toward Negroes. And I'm convinced that many of the very people who supported us in the struggle in the South are not willing to go all the way now. I came to see this in a very difficult and painful way. In Chicago the last year where I've lived and worked. Some of the people who came quickly to march with us in Selma and Birmingham weren't active around Chicago. And I came to see that so many people who supported morally and even financially what we were doing in Birmingham and Selma, were really outraged against the extremist behavior of Bull Connor and Jim Clark toward Negroes, rather than believing in genuine equality for Negroes. And I think this is what we've gotta see now, and this is what makes the struggle much more difficult.

So as a result of all of this, we see many problems existing today that are growing more difficult. It's something that is often overlooked, but Negroes generally live in worse slums today than 20 or 25 years ago. In the North schools are more segregated today than they were in 1954 when the Supreme Court's decision on desegregation was rendered. Economically the Negro Is worse off today than he was 15 and 20 years ago. And so the unemployment rate among Whites at one time was about the same as the unemployment rate among Negroes. But today the unemployment rate among Negroes is twice that of Whites. And the average income of the Negro is today 50% less than Whites.

As we look at these problems we see them growing and developing every day. We see the fact that the Negro economically is facing a depression in his everyday life that is more staggering than the depression of the 30's. The unemployment rate of the nation as a whole is about 4%. Statistics would say from the Labor Department that among Negroes it's about 8.4%. But these are the persons who are in the labor market, who still go to employment agencies to seek jobs, and so they can be calculated. The statistics can be gotten because they are still somehow in the labor market.

But there are hundreds of thousands of Negroes who have given up. They've lost hope. They've come to feel that life is a long and desolate corridor for them with no Exit sign, and so they no longer go to look for a job. There are those who would estimate that these persons, who are called the Discouraged Persons, these 6 or 7% in the Negro community, that means that unemployment among Negroes may well be 16%. Among Negro youth in some of our larger urban areas it goes to 30 and 40%. So you can see what I mean when I say that, in the Negro community, there is a major, tragic and staggering depression that we face in our everyday lives.

Now the other thing that we've gotta come to see now that many of us didn't see too well during the last ten years — that is that racism is still alive in American society. And much more wide-spread than we realized. And we must see racism for what it is. It is a myth of the superior and the inferior race. It is the false and tragic notion that one particular group, one particular race is responsible for all of the progress, all of the insights in the total flow of history. And the theory that another group or another race is totally depraved, innately impure, and innately inferior.

In the final analysis, racism is evil because its ultimate logic is genocide. Hitler was a sick and tragic man who carried racism to its logical conclusion. He ended up leading a nation to the point of killing about 6 million Jews. This is the tragedy of racism because its ultimate logic is genocide. If one says that I am not good enough to live next door to him; if one says that I am not good enough to eat at a lunch counter, or to have a good, decent job, or to go to school with him merely because of my race, he is saying consciously or unconsciously that I do not deserve to exist.

To use a philosophical analogy here, racism is not based on some empirical generalization; it is based rather on an ontological affirmation. It is not the assertion that certain people are behind culturally or otherwise because of environmental conditions. It is the affirmation that the very being of a people is inferior. And this is the great tragedy of it.

I submit that however unpleasant it is we must honestly see and admit that racism is still deeply rooted all over America. It is still deeply rooted in the North, and it's still deeply rooted in the South.

And this leads me to say something about another discussion that we hear a great deal, and that is the so-called "white backlash". I would like to honestly say to you that the white backlash is merely a new name for an old phenomenon. It's not something that just came into being because of shouts of Black Power, or because Negroes engaged in riots in Watts, for instance. The fact is that the state of California voted a Fair Housing bill out of existence before anybody shouted Black Power, or before anybody rioted in Watts.

It may well be that shouts of Black Power and riots in Watts and the Harlems and the other areas, are the consequences of the white backlash rather than the cause of them. What it is necessary to see is that there has never been a single solid monistic determined commitment on the part of the vast majority of white Americans on the whole question of Civil Rights and on the whole question of racial equality. This is something that truth impels all men of good will to admit.

It is said on the Statue of Liberty that America is a home of exiles. It doesn't take us long to realize that America has been the home of its white exiles from Europe. But it has not evinced the same kind of maternal care and concern for its black exiles from Africa. It is no wonder that in one of his sorrow songs, the Negro could sing out, "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child." What great estrangement, what great sense of rejection caused a people to emerge with such a metaphor as they looked over their lives.

What I'm trying to get across is that our nation has constantly taken a positive step forward on the question of racial justice and racial equality. But over and over again at the same time, it made certain backward steps. And this has been the persistence of the so called white backlash.

In 1863 the Negro was freed from the bondage of physical slavery. But at the same time, the nation refused to give him land to make that freedom meaningful. And at that same period America was giving millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest, which meant that America was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor that would make it possible to grow and develop, and refused to give that economic floor to its black peasants, so to speak.

This is why Frederick Douglas could say that emancipation for the Negro was freedom to hunger, freedom to the winds and rains of heaven, freedom without roofs to cover their heads. He went on to say that it was freedom without bread to eat, freedom without land to cultivate. It was freedom and famine at the same time. But it does not stop there.

In 1875 the nation passed a Civil Rights Bill and refused to enforce it. In 1964 the nation passed a weaker Civil Rights Bill and even to this day, that bill has not been totally enforced in all of its dimensions. The nation heralded a new day of concern for the poor, for the poverty stricken, for the disadvantaged. And brought into being a Poverty Bill and at the same time it put such little money into the program that it was hardly, and still remains hardly, a good skirmish against poverty. White politicians in suburbs talk eloquently against open housing, and in the same breath contend that they are not racist. And all of this, and all of these things tell us that America has been backlashing on the whole question of basic constitutional and God-given rights for Negroes and other disadvantaged groups for more than 300 years.

So these conditions, existence of widespread poverty, slums, and of tragic conniptions in schools and other areas of life, all of these things have brought about a great deal of despair, and a great deal of desperation. A great deal of disappointment and even bitterness in the Negro communities. And today all of our cities confront huge problems. All of our cities are potentially powder kegs as a result of the continued existence of these conditions. Many in moments of anger, many in moments of deep bitterness engage in riots.

Let me say as I've always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I'm still convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and justice. I feel that violence will only create more social problems than they will solve. That in a real sense it is impracticable for the Negro to even think of mounting a violent revolution in the United States. So I will continue to condemn riots, and continue to say to my brothers and sisters that this is not the way. And continue to affirm that there is another way.

But at the same time, it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.

Now let me go on to say that if we are to deal with all of the problems that I've talked about, and if we are to bring America to the point that we have one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, there are certain things that we must do. The job ahead must be massive and positive. We must develop massive action programs all over the United States of America in order to deal with the problems that I have mentioned. Now in order to develop these massive action programs we've got to get rid of one or two false notions that continue to exist in our society. One is the notion that only time can solve the problem of racial injustice. I'm sure you've heard this idea. It is the notion almost that there is something in the very flow of time that will miraculously cure all evils. And I've heard this over and over again. There are those, and they are often sincere people, who say to Negroes and their allies In the white community, that we should slow up and just be nice and patient and continue to pray, and in a hundred or two hundred years the problem will work itself out because only time can solve the problem.

I think there is an answer to that myth. And it is that time is neutral. It can be used either constructively or destructively. And I'm absolutely convinced that the forces of ill-will in our nation, the extreme rightists in our nation, have often used time much more effectively than the forces of good will. And it may well be that we will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words of the bad people and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say wait on time. Somewhere we must come to see that social progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated Individuals. And without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. And so we must help time, and we must realize that the time is always right to do right.

Now there's another notion that gets out, it's around everywhere. It's in the South, it's in the North, it's In California, and all over our nation. It's the notion that legislation can't solve the problem, it can't do anything in this area. And those who project this argument contend that you've got to change the heart and that you can't change the heart through legislation. Now I would be the first one to say that there is real need for a lot of heart changing in our country, and I believe in changing the heart. I preach about it. I believe in the need for conversion in many instances, and regeneration, to use theological terms. And I would be the first to say that if the race problem In America is to be solved, the white person must treat the Negro right, not merely because the law says it, but because it's natural, because It's right, and because the Negro is his brother. And so I realize that if we are to have a truly integrated society, men and women will have to rise to the majestic heights of being obedient to the unenforceable.

But after saying this, let me say another thing which gives the other side, and that is that although it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. Even though it may be true that the law cannot change the heart, it can restrain the heartless. Even though it may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, it can restrain him from lynching me. And I think that's pretty important also. And so while the law may not change the hearts of men, it can and it does change the habits of men. And when you begin to change the habits of men, pretty soon the attitudes will be changed; pretty soon the hearts will be changed. And I'm convinced that we still need strong civil rights legislation. And there is a bill before Congress right now to have a national or federal Open Housing Bill. A federal law declaring discrimination in housing unconstitutional.

And also a bill to make the administration of justice real all over our country. Now nobody can doubt the need for this. Nobody can doubt the need if he thinks about the fact that since 1963 some 50 Negroes and white Civil Rights workers have been brutally murdered in the state of Mississippi alone, and not a single person has been convicted for these dastardly crimes. There have been some indictments but no one has been convicted. And so there is a need for a federal law dealing with the whole question of the administration of justice.

There is a need for fair housing laws all over our country. And it is tragic indeed that Congress last year allowed this bill to die. And when that bill died in Congress, a bit of democracy died, a bit of our commitment to justice died. If it happens again in this session of Congress, a greater degree of our commitment to democratic principles will die. And I can see no more dangerous trend in our country than the constant developing of predominantly Negro central cities ringed by white suburbs. This is only inviting social disaster. And the only way this problem will be solved is by the nation taking a strong stand, and by state governments taking a strong stand against housing segregation and against discrimination in all of these areas.

Now there's another thing that I'd like to mention as I talk about the massive action program and time will not permit me to go into specific programmatic action to any great degree. But it must be realized now that the Negro cannot solve the problems by himself. There again, there are those who always say to Negroes, "Why don't you do something for yourself? Why don't you lift yourselves by your own bootstraps?" And we hear this over and over again.

Now certainly there are many things that we must do for ourselves and that only we can do for ourselves. Certainly we must develop within a sense of dignity and self-respect that nobody else can give us. A sense of manhood, a sense of personhood, a sense of not being ashamed of our heritage, not being ashamed of our color. It was wrong and tragic of the Negro ever to allow himself to be ashamed of the fact that he was black, or ashamed of the fact that his ancestral home was Africa. And so there is a great deal that the Negro can do to develop self respect. There is a great deal that the Negro must do and can do to amass political and economic power within his own community and by using his own resources. And so we must do certain things for ourselves but this must not negate the fact, and cause the nation to overlook the fact, that the Negro cannot solve the problem himself.

A man was on the plane with me some weeks ago and he came up to me and said, "The problem, Dr. King, that I see with what you all are doing is that every time I see you and other Negroes, you're protesting and you aren't doing anything for yourselves." And he went on to tell me that he was very poor at one time, and he was able to make by doing something for himself. "Why don't you teach your people," he said, "to lift themselves by their own bootstraps?" And then he went on to say other groups faced disadvantages, the Irish, the Italian, and he went down the line.

And I said to him that it does not help the Negro, it only deepens his frustration, upon feeling insensitive people to say to him that other ethnic groups who migrated or were immigrants to this country less than a hundred years or so ago, have gotten beyond him and he came here some 344 years ago. And I went on to remind him that the Negro came to this country involuntarily in chains, while others came voluntarily. I went on to remind him that no other racial group has been a slave on American soil. I went on to remind him that the other problem we have faced over the years is that this society placed a stigma on the color of the Negro, on the color of his skin because he was black. Doors were closed to him that were not closed to other groups.

And I finally said to him that it's a nice thing to say to people that you oughta lift yourself by your own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he oughta lift himself by his own bootstraps. And the fact is that millions of Negroes, as a result of centuries of denial and neglect, have been left bootless. They find themselves impoverished aliens in this affluent society. And there is a great deal that the society can and must do if the Negro is to gain the economic security that he needs.

Now one of the answers it seems to me, is a guaranteed annual income, a guaranteed minimum income for all people, and for our families of our country. It seems to me that the Civil Rights movement must now begin to organize for the guaranteed annual income. Begin to organize people all over our country, and mobilize forces so that we can bring to the attention of our nation this need, and this is something which I believe will go a long long way toward dealing with the Negro's economic problem and the economic problem which many other poor people confront in our nation. Now I said I wasn't going to talk about Vietnam, but I can't make a speech without mentioning some of the problems that we face there because I think this war has diverted attention from civil rights. It has strengthened the forces of reaction in our country and has brought to the forefront the military-industrial complex that even President Eisenhower warned us against at one time. And above all, it is destroying human lives. It's destroying the lives of thousands of the young promising men of our nation. It's destroying the lives of little boys and little girls In Vietnam.

But one of the greatest things that this war is doing to us in Civil Rights is that it is allowing the Great Society to be shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam every day. And I submit this afternoon that we can end poverty in the United States. Our nation has the resources to do it. The National Gross Product of America will rise to the astounding figure of some $780 billion this year. We have the resources: The question is, whether our nation has the will, and I submit that if we can spend $35 billion a year to fight an ill-considered war in Vietnam, and $20 billion to put a man on the moon, our nation can spend billions of dollars to put God's children on their own two feet right here on earth.

Let me say another thing that's more in the realm of the spirit I guess, that is that if we are to go on in the days ahead and make true brotherhood a reality, it is necessary for us to realize more than ever before, that the destinies of the Negro and the white man are tied together. Now there are still a lot of people who don't realize this. The racists still don't realize this. But it is a fact now that Negroes and whites are tied together, and we need each other. The Negro needs the white man to save him from his fear. The white man needs the Negro to save him from his guilt. We are tied together in so many ways, our language, our music, our cultural patterns, our material prosperity, and even our food are an amalgam of black and white.

So there can be no separate black path to power and fulfillment that does not intersect white groups. There can be no separate white path to power and fulfillment short of social disaster. It does not recognize the need of sharing that power with black aspirations for freedom and justice. We must come to see now that integration is not merely a romantic or esthetic something where you merely add color to a still predominantly white power structure. Integration must be seen also in political terms where there is shared power, where black men and white men share power together to build a new and a great nation.

In a real sense, we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. John Donne placed it years ago in graphic terms, "No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." And he goes on toward the end to say, "Any man's death diminishes me because I'm Involved in mankind. Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee." And so we are all in the same situation: the salvation of the Negro will mean the salvation of the white man. And the destruction of life and of the ongoing progress of the Negro will be the destruction of the ongoing progress of the nation.

Now let me say finally that we have difficulties ahead but I haven't despaired. Somehow I maintain hope in spite of hope. And I've talked about the difficulties and how hard the problems will be as we tackle them. But I want to close by saying this afternoon, that I still have faith in the future. And I still believe that these problems can be solved. And so I will not join anyone who will say that we still can't develop a coalition of conscience.

I realize and understand the discontent and the agony and the disappointment and even the bitterness of those who feel that whites in America cannot be trusted. And I would be the first to say that there are all too many who are still guided by the racist ethos. And I am still convinced that there are still many white persons of good will. And I'm happy to say that I see them every day in the student generation who cherish democratic principles and justice above principle, and who will stick with the cause of justice and the cause of Civil Rights and the cause of peace throughout the days ahead. And so I refuse to despair. I think we're gonna achieve our freedom because however much America strays away from the ideals of justice, the goal of America is freedom.

Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up in the destiny of America. Before the pilgrim fathers landed at Plymouth we were here. Before Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. Before the beautiful words of the Star Spangled Banner were written, we were here. For more than two centuries, our forebearers labored here without wages. They made cotton king. They built the homes of their masters in the midst of the most humiliating and oppressive conditions. And yet out of a bottomless vitality, they continued to grow and develop.

And I say that if the inexpressible cruelties of slavery couldn't stop us, the opposition that we now face, including the so-called white backlash, will surely fail. We're gonna win our freedom because both the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of the Almighty God are embodied in our echoing demands.

And so I can still sing "We Shall Overcome." We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward Justice. We shall overcome because Carlyle is right, "No lie can live forever." We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right, "Truth crushed to earth will rise again." We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right, "Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne — Yet that scaffold sways the future." With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discourse of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to speed up the day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and live together as brothers and sisters, all over this great nation. That will be a great day, that will be a great tomorrow. In the words of the Scripture, to speak symbolically, that will be the day when the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy.

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hookaroo · 6 years

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A Captain’s Heart (1 of 35?)

Summary: Killian doesn't remember falling through a portal. Now he is injured and trapped in another realm - again - with only an odd stranger for company. Who is she... and why is there something so familiar about her? Takes place between seasons 6 and 7. Inspired by my favorite episode of Doctor Who (spoilers!)

This is a CS-friendly fic; however, it is very Killian-centric. Emma appears in maybe 1/3 of the chapters. Just fyi.

Rated T for language and graphic descriptions of injuries.

Also on FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12937105/1/A-Captain-s-Heart

Holy. Mother. Of Zeus. That hurt.

Of all the positions in which a person could regain consciousness, sprawled on a beach with one’s hook embedded in a thigh rated among the worst. And Killian Jones should know; in fact, he might be considered an expert on the whole “body meets ground” thing.

Clumsy fingers brushed his forehead, spidering roughly along his jaw before coming to rest against his throat in poor approximation of seeking a pulse. Gritty with salt and sand, Killian’s eyelids were slow to respond; truth be told, the same could be said of the rest of him, or he wouldn’t still be prone, his metal appendage digging an agonizing trench into his leg. With effort, Killian gathered the appropriate obscenities to slur into the sand, most of which came out as muffled grunts. Which quickly became choking coughs when newly-expanded lungs needed to expel the seawater that had collected at some point.

All of this was familiar to him. But… storm? Shipwreck? Killian did not remember any of it.

The hands had shifted, a fist now inexplicably resting against his lips as though attempting to politely stifle the hacking. Killian lifted a trembling arm to bat away the nuisance, managing a hoarse, “Sod off, Smee,” before succumbing to another painful bout of coughing.

The answering voice was decidedly not Smee’s. Unsure, unfamiliar, but with a similar accent to his own. A woman.

“You’re… awake? My captain?”

Gulping, clearing his throat several times in quick succession, Killian fought to get the spasms under control: each convulsion of his chest drove the hook a little deeper into the damaged limb. Still weak and dizzy, he finally managed to flop over onto his back, releasing a small whimper in the process. Killian winced and scrubbed at his eyes with sandy fingers. That didn’t help anything.

“Water,” he groaned, holding out his hand. Delicate fingers threaded between his as his companion mimicked the request.

“Water,” she said, as if agreeing. Definitely not catching on. Who was this lass? Killian shook his hand free and fumbled for his pocket. These days, his trusty flask often contained water over rum. Although perhaps not, if he’d been sailing... had he? By himself? Or… gods, had Emma been with him? Henry? A spike in panic made removal of the lid more difficult than usual, and his mysterious helper offered no assistance.

“P-please, was there anyone else? Anyone washed up, further down the beach, perhaps...” He took a whiff from the flask: undeniably rum, which would be useful in its own way, but would not solve the issue of obstructed vision. Killian took a mouthful as he suppressed more coughing.

“No; only the two of us. We’re quite safe.”

Again, less than helpful. Killian tucked the flask beneath his brace, gritting his teeth at the jostle to his wound. Then he used the other sleeve to wipe at his eyes: sand was less likely to stick to leather, even sodden as it was. He had to clear his vision; had to see the hook where it penetrated, how deep it was, which direction to pull it out. He shuddered. And not that he didn’t believe the woman beside him, but he needed to see for himself that they were alone. That his Swan wasn’t lying somewhere nearby, turning blue as she awaited only that small nudge to get her breathing again, and if he delayed…

Terrified of what he would find, Killian wrenched his eyes open, the grit burning and scratching, tears blurring even as he cast about wildly, trying to get his bearings.

Beach. Calm sea, clear sky. No one immediately caught his attention, but he needed to be certain. Bracing himself, Killian took a breath and lurched into a seated position, hissing in pain and nearly blacking right out again. At his left, a blur of movement, a hand on his back to steady him.

Killian gazed painfully up and down the lonely stretch of sand and spotted nothing out of the ordinary. No bodies, no wreckage, no ship on the waves, row boat, or any sign of civilization. Either Emma was safe at home, or…

No, he could not think that way; right now needed to be about survival. Killian squinted inland, deciding immediately that he did not recognize their surroundings. Putting off the first glimpse of his wound and the inevitable shock it would bring, Killian turned to study the only living soul anywhere nearby: the woman at his shoulder. Bloody hell - the naked woman at his shoulder. Killian glanced up at her unfamiliar face before looking away.

One problem at a time.

Distinct stirrings of nausea accompanied the sight of curved steel protruding from his leg. Prickles all over his face, pressure behind his eyes, vision narrowing - the usual, in other words. Killian swallowed a groan and sought the calming horizon.

Once reasonably sure he wouldn’t be expelling the contents of his stomach, Killian trained his gaze back on the injury; he felt the pain intensify now that he could visualize the impalement, the blood that had soaked through his jeans and started its own collection of rusty sand clumps on the denim. Following a rent that started just above his knee, Killian gingerly wiggled his finger into the tattered fabric.

“Your hook. It’s stuck?” The woman still rested her hand on his back. He could feel slight tremors in his muscles, though he couldn’t be sure of their origin.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he grunted, pulling at the tear. He wasn’t confident in his ability to rip the heavy denim one-handed, but definitely needed a better view to assess treatment options. “Are you cold, lass?”

“Cold?” she parroted and didn’t reply. Given her state of undress and apparent communication difficulties, Killian began to wonder if she weren’t a bit mad. Grimacing, the pirate dug into his pocket, looking for his phone. But the blasted thing was nowhere to be found. Probably dead, anyway: he’d learned from personal experience how averse to water the devices were.

“Just determining how much of these damn shivers belong to you, or if they can all be explained away by shock.” Not just a reaction to his anguish, the strain in Killian's tone was also a sure indication of his rapidly dwindling optimism. Stranded, no way to call for help, no means of transport beyond his own two… one leg. And his solitary companion hardly seemed fit for providing first aid.

Sighing, Killian closed his eyes for a moment as he pictured what had to be done. “What’s your name, love?”

“My name?”

“Aye. What do people call you?”

“I’m called many things, by different people. The one I like best, though, I… it escapes me at the moment.”

“O...kay.” Killian opened his eyes and glanced sideways at her distant expression. “Your given name, perhaps?”

“That would be Jewel, I suppose; though I haven’t gone by that name in many years.”

“Jewel, then. Killian Jones.” He reached his hand out, careful not to shift his weight too much in the process, then he winced as he caught sight of the blood staining his fingers. He quickly wiped them on his jacket. Awkwardly, Jewel clasped his hand with her left, thumb inside his grip, remaining fingers wrapped around the back.

“Oh, I know,” she said as he hesitated, then rotated his wrist and brought her hand to his lips for the briefest of greetings.

“You… do. Brilliant.” He released her hand and gestured at his wounded leg. “I hate to ask it, lass, but I’m afraid I’ll require some assistance, here.”

“What can I do?” She didn’t sound intimidated in the slightest.

“I’ll need to free the hook from its attachment. Do you think you can provide some stability?”

Jewel moved forward on her knees, nodding. “Show me.”

Killian kept his eyes firmly locked on the problem at hand, though the auburn-haired maiden appeared completely unabashed.

“Just… a steady grip here.” Killian guided her hand to the graceful curve of steel, just beyond where it disappeared into the brace. He sucked in a sharp breath as she took hold of the hook, the contact inadvertently wiggling the tip within his flesh. Regaining his voice, he added, “The less motion you allow, the better.”

“I understand.” She wrapped her second hand around the first, and Killian set his jaw.

Removing hook from brace tended to be easier than the other way around, which was why he needed his hand free. Without an external grip on the brace, achieving the sharp twist required to unlock the steel would be difficult, as his forearm tended to merely slide within the leather, seriously reducing its external rotation. Internal flexibility was a necessary design feature: he would be useless at climbing the rigging if the slightest twist of his arm caused the hook to pop free.

With that in mind, Killian carefully wrapped his hand around the end of the brace, rehearsing in his imagination, making sure he would be applying traction in the correct direction. He definitely did not want to be fumbling around while the steel pierced his leg, no matter how strong of a grip Jewel could provide.

Swallowing, Killian took a fortifying breath. “Get ready.”

“Aye-aye,” said Jewel seriously; he could see her knuckles whiten with pressure.

He couldn’t delay any further, or he’d lose the nerve. And this was just the first step…

With a brutal yank on the leather, coordinated between hand and opposite wrist, Killian rotated the brace counterclockwise, away from his body. As he heard the snap of the locking mechanism being released, he growled a curse at the sharp flare in his thigh. But the hook was loose, and Killian quickly pulled his brace free. Panting, he allowed himself to fall back onto his elbows, his head dropping back, grimace pointed heavenward.

“Love?” called Jewel from her position by his hip. “What now?”

The pirate drew three slow breaths through gritted teeth before responding. “You can let go now… thanks…”

The hook twitched just slightly with the release of her grip, and Killian winced again. Then, on shaky arms, he sat back up, growling and fighting dizziness. Salty sand filled his mouth as he took his right sleeve between his teeth. Making a face, he worked the arm free of the jacket, then turned his attention to the other side. As he wiggled the brace through the hole, careful not to allow any of the material to brush against his leg, he asked,

“Just where are we, Jewel? Anywhere near Storybrooke, Maine, by chance?”

Jewel sat with legs folded beneath her, naked hip almost flush against his, merely watching as he shed the jacket. “My apologies. I don’t know.”

“General idea, then?” prompted Killian, finally emerging from the leather. He tucked hand and brace beneath the collar and held the garment out toward his companion, who looked at it quizzically. “Can’t have my only source of assistance exposed to the elements. Put it on, love.”

Jewel blinked at him as the offer sank in. As she carefully grasped the jacket, glancing down at her unclothed form, her nude state seemed to register, yet she still held to a naïve lack of shame. She slipped her arms through the sleeves just as they were… meaning the garment was on backwards. Killian lacked the will to correct her.

“An idea?” she responded to his earlier query. “Of position?”

“Aye,” said the pirate, beginning to work on the buttons of his shirt. He glanced over to catch a flash of dismay in her vivid blue eyes.

“I… couldn’t say. Oh, my dear, there was magic, and a portal, and that’s all I know. No stars to guide the way, not yet, and we're anchored in a barren reef with a receding tide-”

“Hey, hey, love; steady there.” Pausing in the struggle, Killian reached across to catch her agitated fingers as they ran roughly through her long tresses. His jacket already drooped lower on her shoulders. “No need for panic, all right? Just… tell me as much as you can recall; think you can do that?”

Glancing at his hand on hers, Jewel caught sight of the waves off to Killian’s right, and her features stilled. She nodded and he released her wrist. The final button undone, he began to strip off his shirt. “You saw a portal? Are you certain?”

“Aye, Captain. I would recognize one anywhere.”

Killian swore softly. “Then what realm is this? Don't tell me I’ve landed in the bloody Enchanted Forest… again.”

Her face tightened, the fear lurking. Killian considered her as he pulled his brace through the sleeve. “You aren’t from here, I take it.”

“That’s a… complicated question.”

“Naturally.” Killian sighed. He really didn’t need to know the woman’s backstory, or even why she was so peculiar. His immediate concern was survival. “Would I assume correctly that you have no clue as to the direction of civilization?”

She looked stricken, and Killian was overcome with the absurd urge to pull her into a reassuring embrace.

“I… don’t recognize this coastline. Never sailed past here, to the best of my memory.” She hung her head; the jacket slipped further down her chest and arms. “I’ve failed you.”

“Bollocks,” scoffed Killian, crumpling his shirt into a ball beside him. “Hey. The only thing you’ve failed at is putting that coat on properly. Allow me?”

The pirate leaned sideways, which earned him a fiery stab from his thigh. Pasting on a strained smile, he settled the collar once again in his arms, holding the jacket as a curtain between them. Jewel met his eyes, a question in her own.

“Other arms,” explained Killian gently. Briefly balancing the fabric on his brace, he indicated a twirl with his hand, and the woman finally caught his meaning. She pulled her arms free, twisted to put her back to him, and fumbled the jacket on correctly. “That’s it, darling. Feel better?”

Jewel turned back toward him; he released the collar and showed her how to work the fastenings. Then he began to unbuckle the harness securing his brace. “Now, then. Here’s our course of action. We’ll get this blasted hook out, do what’s necessary to prevent me bleeding to death… seek shelter. Locate a settlement. Then we concern ourselves with our return home. What do you say, love? Agreeable?”

“You’re the captain.” The words sounded like a gibe; like a taunt regarding his current lack of a ship to captain. But her tone and demeanor were deadly serious. Killian flashed her an uncertain smile.

“Aye. That I am.” With only slight hesitation, he removed both harness and brace. Jewel didn’t so much as flicker an eyelash at the sight of his scarred, attenuated limb.

“Tell me, Jewel, do you know how to build a fire?” Killian asked as he began to gingerly wind one of the longer straps around his upper thigh. The woman recoiled visibly at the question, her face draining of color as pure apprehension widened her eyes. All she could do, it seemed, was shake her head, mute.

Killian pulled the strap tight with a grunt, the makeshift tourniquet just barely able to wrap around twice before folding securely beneath itself. “No matter; if you’d be so kind as to gather whatever bits of driftwood you can find, the drier the better, along with any seagrass or anything else you think will burn. Fetch it here, and I’ll do the rest. All right?”

Jewel nodded understanding and got to her feet. A puzzled, uncomfortable look crossed her face then, and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Killian was grateful he’d chosen to wear the longer jacket that day: however unconcerned she may be about her modesty, the length of the leather at least eased his mind a bit.

“My feet feel different,” commented the lady unhappily.

“Aye? Have they gone all tingly?” Killian asked, not really paying much attention. He had once again worked his thumb into the tear in his jeans and was trying to unstick the bloodsoaked material from his skin.

“Is that what you’d call it? Tingly?”

“I’d wager you sat on them for too long, restricted the blood flow. Have you honestly never done that before?”

“No. I don’t like it.”

Killian grimaced. The denim’s tug on his skin pulled at the furrow carved by his hook, which sharpened the constant anguish from the injury. “Give it… a few moments… it'll go away eventually.”

He released a tense breath as the last of the fabric came free and he could slide his whole hand into the rip. Jewel limped in a quarter turn, intent on following his instructions. But Killian stopped her.

“Wait. Speaking of feet, you should help yourself to these boots. Prevent you slashing yourself on shells or barnacles.”

Jewel turned back and Killian nodded at the boots on his feet. She crouched again, but not before looking back and forth between his gaze and the proffered footwear to be sure of his intent.

Killian wiggled his right foot insistently. “Sorry to be of such little assistance, but I seem to be pinned in place.”

His attempt at making light of his situation was undermined by the pain apparent in his voice. Jewel reached down and clumsily tugged the boot off his right foot, then set it aside and moved toward the other. The pirate set his jaw and clamped his hand just above the knee, intending to provide stability and lessen the need to use the skewered muscle. It still hurt. The boot caught on his instep despite attempts to relax his ankle, and Jewel froze when he hissed in pain.

“Don’t stop,” he implored her tightly. “You’re nearly there.”

The lass gave one more jiggling yank and the boot slid free. She almost lost her balance, but Killian was too busy cursing his hook to notice her struggles. When she had shoved both of her feet into the too-large footwear, she stood up, and Killian panted a nod. On wobbly legs, she went off in search of flammable materials… and Killian noticed that she walked as if compensating for a world gently tilting back and forth.

#ouat fanfiction #killian jones #whump #impalement

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gfriendchris760 · 3 years

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Be2 Website

Be2. The website is fairly nicely created and do like.

https://gfriendchris760.tumblr.com/post/657852017489903616/eharmony-dating-app. Be2. has a consumer rating of 2.08 movie movie stars from 12 reviews showing that many clients are usually dissatisfied using their acquisitions. Be2. ranks 245th among internet dating sites.

Reviews

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The website is very well created and extremely do just like the real way they display pictures. pared to many other sites that are dating found it easy to use and simple to make use of. This site has been tried by me with great outcomes, got to understand my present girlfriend. We registered at be2 so when we got our partner remendations we learned that individuals are completely matched. And in addition to this we live very near to one another just exactly what made easier for people to meet up with. Thus far we have been together and can see what bring the long term.

Fake profiles: exact exact same images with various names. exact Same bio under various picture’s. They do say you could get a membership for 7,95 euros a month during six months. However the re payment is 191,76 for half a year.

Ondanks dat be2 dating op een hoger niveau is, valt het meer onder de categorie relatiebureau’s. Het is be2 gelukt om duizenden singles wereldwijd aan een gelukkige relatie te helpen door middel van een wetenschappelijk bewezen persoonlijkheidstest. U wordt op deze manier alleen voorgesteld aan singles die ook echt bij u passen en u leert. Be2 Online Dating in South African cities. If you are a single in Johannesburg, Cape Town, or any of the other major urban centers in the South Africa, online dating can help you connect with other singles near you and find a partner who is well suited to your personality. A serious online dating site like be2 will help you find others who want. Be2 website is not only sleek and professional looking but also has minimal distractions. Unlike most flashy dating sites that seem to draw more attention to the graphics, Be2 is clean and neat, which allows users to focus on other people’s profiles, not on finding their way around the website’s rich functional. Currently, be2 website operates in 38 countries worldwide. It is considered as one of the most popular dating websites that singles prefer to join. Is There an Age Restriction to Register on be2? Like other dating websites, there is an age limitation for the be2 users as well. To be able to register on the be2 website, you should be above 18. To give you the best user experience possible, we use various tracking technologies on our website, such as cookies. We want to know your preferences, therefore if you give your consent for us to use certain cookies you can click 'I agree'. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

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This is actually the offer I finalized as much as this site for.

“You are one action from your COMPLIMENTARY trial that is 10-day. To get your reward, you need to plete this offer within the next a day

To validate your identification and guarantee the security of y our solution, we are in need of you to enter your card details. In the event that you cancel whenever you want with this trial that is free card will never be charged. Begin your trial that is free and love. Appropriate. Now”

Thus I entered my details somewhat naively thinking I might never be charged until 10 times later. Some hours later on my banking institutions fraudulence prevention line called me saying that be2 had tried to charge me ВЈ89.97 – the cost of their three months membership! Very sneaky and fraud that is just blatant far as i will be worried.

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Fake pages: exact same photos with various names. exact Same bio under various photo’s. They state you may get an account for 7,95 euros a thirty days during half a year. Nevertheless the re payment is 191,76 for half a year.

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I made a decision to become listed on be2 half a 12 months ago because i did not desire to be alone any longer. So I started initially to search for partner that will be suitable for me personally. After enrollment I paid my premium account and continued with my search. I contacted some of my partner remendations and discovered away that individuals had a great deal in mon with several of those. During the moment I have always been nevertheless alone because I had beenn’t pleased with anybody whom replied my communications.

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I registered as of this web site one ago and I really liked personality test which I had to go through month. It absolutely was extremely detailed and contacts that are remended to be effectively matched to my taste. After few communications we decide to speak to Paul. I like fulfilling him and keep in touch with him. Possibly he might be my Mr. Right, the good news is it is too early to say this certainly.

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Your website is fairly well created and extremely do just like the way they display photos. pared to other sites that are dating found it easy to use and easy to utilize. We have tried this web site with great outcomes, surely got to know my present girlfriend. We registered at be2 so when we got our partner remendations we discovered that people are completely matched. And in addition we live very near to one another exactly exactly what possible for people to meet up with. Up to now we’re together and can see what bring the near future.

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Website Details:

Cost:

$29.95 for a 1 month membership to this dating service.

$33.30 for a 3 month membership to this dating service.

$16.60 per month for a 12 month membership.

Features:

Home: The home section enables you to see the last visitors to the site, who just registered on Be2 and your favorites.

My Matches: You can do a search based on age, height and you can also use the advanced search options. The search options enables you to search according to smoking habits, drinking habits, religion, ethnic group, language spoken and also you can choose regions in your country you want to search for.

My Profile: This is where you fill out your profile. Uploading a photo is probably a good idea if you're serious about meeting someone. Since looks are they going to be the first thing that catches someone's eye when viewing your profile. You can also edit your age, profession, education, city, country, height.

My Messages: This section is where you receive messages.

Overview

Be2.com is a mainstream dating site. This company owns dating services that target all the main languages on earth including English, French (Be2.fr), Italian (Be2.it), Norwegian (Be2.no), and German (Be2.de) to name only a few of them. Just like we do with our adult dating reviews we registered as a free member on this site to see exactly how it operates. You can read the full review and what we found out about this site below.

What We Think About Be2 After Signing Up

For every investigation we do there is a set agenda we follow. The first one is to create a personal profile on the dating site that we are reviewing. When we create our dating profile we make sure not to use any photographs and leave out as much information as possible. This way we can use this to our advantage. If we start receiving emails and instant messages immediately after registering on the site then we know it's probably going to be a scam. Why would anyone contact us when our profile is completely empty and we have no profile photographs? In this particular situation with Be2.com we received no emails, no instant messages, no webcam chats at all ZERO. Our profile was left empty and that's the result you would get if the dating site was legitimate. This is one indicator that leads us to believe that Be2.com is a real dating site.

Usually when a dating site is a scam you get so many emails that flood your inbox it's ridiculous. In this case we got no emails at all. The reason that dating scams use email messages is to lure you into upgrading so you can communicate back to the women sending you the emails. But in every situation we have encountered the women sending us those emails were fake. In this situation we received no emails at all. So we have to conclude they're not using automated chat bots to deceive us so we buy a paid monthly subscription.

Another method we use to identify scammy dating sites is a software program called Tin Eye. This helps us to find fake profile photos and the exact locations where those profiles have been stolen from on other sites (many times amateur porn sites). And we're happy to report in this situation that the profile pictures we dug through were NOT found on other sites.

Hosting Server Info:

Address Of Host: 291, Route d'Arlon, L-1150 Luxembourg

IP Address Of Server: 93.104.242.20

Name Servers: ns25.ns25.de, ns26.ns26.de, ns27.ns27.de, ns28.ns28.de

Contact Information :

Be2 Website Reviews

Phone:

Addresses: be2 S.à.r.l. of 291, Route d'Arlon, L-1150, Luxembourg

Email:(email protected)

Final Decision:

From what we have seen about this site everything looks to be legitimate. After doing over 200 reviews of dating scams it's very easy to spot a scam. This website does not use utilize automated bots, it does not send out fake emails, or phony instant messages. We received none of that whatsoever. In fact we received absolutely no emails from anyone on the site. For these reasons we have determined that Be2.com is a legit dating service.

Be2 Website Template

Search For Women

If you want to search for real females, then look at these legitimate dating sites.

File A Report

Contact the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint if you feel that you have been scammed or ripped off by this dating site.

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symphoniclolita · 6 years

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"The protection of this library is of the greatest priority. Not only for my personal interests, but for the continued enlightenment of the world for ages to come.

"A copy of nearly every text that has been professionally printed makes its way into our collection. From all over the world, bundles of books, scrolls, tablets, and manuscripts come to us regularly; it is our mission to preserve our histories, our stories, and our languages. I truly feel that whoever set up this arrangement, over four thousand years ago at this point, gave this world the greatest gift...and it is my mission, and the mission of all those who came before me, to preserve everything possible for future generations. Out of every international policy in place, the Grand Library Preservation Act is the only policy that is legally binding to every single country in the world. In lieu of this, a significant portion of our collection is government documents and data, ranging from census information, to law drafts, to economy statistics. It's mandatory for these to be archived with us after a certain number of years in state possession.

"You may be wondering how it would be possible to store this massive amount of written items in a single library. Let me tell you right now, it's not called the Grand Library for nothing. It's more of a campus, with multiple buildings on the surface and nine connected, underground levels. Imagine it like an iceberg: what you see on the surface only accounts for about ten percent of its total size. The oldest of the materials are stored in the lowest levels, and newest are kept in the surface buildings. Whenever there is need for expansion, more underground rooms are dug out... To be perfectly honest, I have no idea of the total size of these underground rooms. I do know from experience, however, that it can take hours to get from the farthest corner of the lower levels back to the surface...

"One thing we are very proactive about is the preservation and education of all languages. There is one surface building that is dedicated to dictionaries and other language instructional manuals; lessons from native speakers are also held here, available to anyone from the public with a desire to pass on the language. Knowing the native tongue of a group of peoples is fundamental not only to understanding meanings within older texts, but also to form a more intimate knowledge of what is and was important to those belonging to that culture. We do our utmost to keep every language alive through education initiatives for children, as it would be a shame to lose access to this native connection.

"However, in the event that a language is in danger of being lost due to unforeseen circumstances (in which there's been quite a few I've been keeping a close eye on in recent times), we do have an emergency resuscitation of sorts that we've been developing for many, many years. Through the use of magic, my fellow muse Calliope created a tool called a Linguist Orb, which can directly manipulate a person's cognitive centers to instantaneously understand a new language transferred within the orb from a native speaker. It's highly experimental still, as she's only produced a small handful, and those who have tried it report a great deal of pain from the experience...however, I feel that a migraine is a fair trade-off for instantly learning a language instead of years, or even decades, of study and practice.

"The majority of people in this world are bilingual, which is a good sign for our preservation efforts. There are very few native tongues in immediate danger, due to peoples' general consensus that you should be able to speak at least your mother tongue for use at home and in the community, and the common tongue, that is, Leefish. Leefish is originally the native tongue of the peoples of southern Edengraith, and was slowly adopted as the international language due to the area's long history of serving as a major trade route. As sailors from all over the world drifted in and out of the region, it became important for them to learn the language in order to communicate deals with the port owners, and from there the practice was spread to other ports, and eventually inland.

"It is my sincere hope that it will stay that way, as an easier way to connect to each other, but I also hope languages will not become lost due to people choosing to only teach their children the common tongue, and finding additional ways of speech unnecessary. I will do my part in ensuring the survival of these tongues, for there are a great many texts in all languages and dialects in our possession, and it would be the greatest shame of mankind to lose the ability to read them on the sands of time."

-Clio

#world building june #wbj2018 #my writing #spiritveil #accepts fate of being a day behind from now on

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whitelabelseoreseller · 5 years

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MozCon 2019: The Top Takeaways From Day One

Posted by KameronJenkins

Rand, Russ, Ruth, Rob, and Ross. Dana and Darren. Shannon and Sarah. We didn’t mean to (we swear we didn’t) but the first day of MozCon was littered with alliteration, takeaways, and oodles of insights from our speakers. Topics ranged from local SEO, link building, and Google tools, and there was no shortage of "Aha!" moments. And while the content was diverse, the themes are clear: search is constantly changing.

If you're a Moz community member, you can access the slides from Day One. Not a community member yet? Sign up — it's free!

Get the speaker slides!

Ready? Let's make like Roger in his SERP submarine and dive right in!

Sarah's welcome

Our fearless leader took the stage to ready our attendees for their deep sea dive over the next three days. Our guiding theme to help set the tone? The deep sea of data that we find ourselves immersed in every day.

People are searching more than ever before on more types of devices than ever before… we truly are living in the golden age of search. As Sarah explained though, not all search is created equal. Because Google wants to answer searchers’ questions as quickly as possible, they’ve moved from being the gateway to information to being the destination for information in many cases. SEOs need to be able to work smarter and identify the best opportunities in this new landscape.

"Let's lift each other up."@SarahBird This is truly what #MozCon is all about!

— Sha Menz (@ShahMenz) July 15, 2019

Today, Google is a destination. they want to keep you there and give you the answer...@SarahBird #mozcon

— Greg Gifford (@GregGifford) July 15, 2019

Rand Fishkin — Web Search 2019: The Essential Data Marketers Need

Next up was Rand of SparkToro who dropped a ton of data about the state of search in 2019.

To set the stage, Rand gave us a quick review of the evolution of media: “This new thing is going to kill this old thing!” has been the theme of panicked marketers for decades. TV was supposed to kill radio. Computers were supposed to kill TV. Mobile was supposed to kill desktop. Voice search was supposed to kill text search. But as Rand showed us, these new technologies often don’t kill the old ones — they just take up all our free time. We need to make sure we’re not turning away from mediums just because they’re “old” and, instead, make sure our investments follow real behavior.

Voice search didn’t kill desktop search. Both mobile and desktop are still big. Don’t ignore either. #mozcon @randfish pic.twitter.com/YusAXepmS9

— Yosef Silver (@ysilver) July 15, 2019

Rand’s deck was also chock-full of data from Jumpshot about how much traffic Google is really sending to websites these days, how much of that comes from paid search, and how that’s changed over the years.

In 2019, Google sent ~20 fewer organic clicks via browser searches than in 2016.

In 2016, there were 26 organic clicks for every paid click. In 2019, that ratio is 11:1.

Over time, you can see a trend of Google cannibalizing more and more clicks. In 2016 there were 26 organic clicks/paid click. In 2019? 11:1. Still big but a lot smaller. @randfish #mozcon

— Ruth Burr Reedy (@ruthburr) July 15, 2019

Google still owns the lion’s share of the search market and still sends a significant amount of traffic to websites, but in light of this data, SEOs should be thinking about how their brands can benefit even without the click.

MozCon 2019 off to a great start. First of many interesting snippets from Rand Fishkin: “More than half of all Google searches are now zero-click”. Ouch.#mozcon #mozcon2019 #contentmarketing #google #search #seo #clickthelink @Moz @randfish pic.twitter.com/au5UZSPtP5

— Jonathan Clarke (@TechnologyJon) July 15, 2019

And finally, Rand left us with some wisdom from the world of social — getting engagement on social media can get you the type of attention it takes to earn quality links and mentions in a way that’s much easier than manual, cold outreach.

Ruth Burr Reedy — Human > Machine > Human: Understanding Human-Readable Quality Signals and Their Machine-Readable Equivalents

It’s 2019. And though we all thought by this year we’d have flying cars and robots to do our bidding, machine learning has come a very long way. Almost frustratingly so — the push and pull of making decisions for searchers versus search engines is an ever-present SEO conundrum.

Ruth argued that in our pursuit of an audience, we can’t get too caught up in the middleman (Google), and in our pursuit of Google, we can’t forget the end user.

Optimizing for humans-only is inefficient. Those who do are likely missing out on a massive opportunity. Optimizing for search engines-only is reactive. Those who do will likely fall behind.

Optimizing for human-readable quality signals means even if something doesn’t turn out to be a ranking factor, you still haven’t wasted your time. #MozCon

— Ruth Burr Reedy (@ruthburr) July 15, 2019

She also left us with the very best kind of homework… homework that’ll make us all better SEOs and marketers!

Read the Quality Rater Guidelines

Ask what your site is currently benefiting from that Google might eliminate or change in the future

Write better (clearer, simpler) content

Examine your SERPs with the goal of understanding search intent so you can meet it

Lean on subject matter experts to make your brand more trustworthy

Conduct a reputation audit — what’s on the internet about your company that people can find?

And last, but certainly not least, stop fighting about this stuff. It’s boring.

Homework: Stop fighting about this stuff, it’s boring #MozCon

— Ruth Burr Reedy (@ruthburr) July 15, 2019

Thank you, Ruth!

Dana DiTomaso — Improved Reporting & Analytics Within Google Tools

Freshly fueled with cinnamon buns and glowing with the energy of a thousand jolts of caffeine, we were ready to dive back into it — this time with Dana from Kick Point.

This year was a continuation of Dana’s talk on goal charters. If you haven’t checked that out yet or you need a refresher, you can view it here!

Dana emphasized the importance of data hygiene. Messy analytics, missing tracking codes, poorly labeled events… we’ve all been there. Dana is a big advocate of documenting every component of your analytics.

She also blew us away with a ton of great insight on making our reports accessible — from getting rid of jargon and using the client’s language to using colors that are compatible with printing.

Love how @danaditomaso encourages the use of labels for her report names... "Are people getting in touch" such a great basic label. That doesn't require a lot of interpretation / translation #mozcon pic.twitter.com/ZLUwoY1L7J

— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 15, 2019

And just when we thought it couldn’t get any more actionable, Dana drops some free Google Data Studio resources on us! You can check them out here.

(Also, close your tabs!)

Rob Bucci — Local Market Analytics: The Challenges and Opportunities

The first thing you need to know is that Rob finally did it — he finally got a cat.

.@STATrob kicked off his preso with a kitten and I couldn’t be more interested in local SEO now. #mozcon pic.twitter.com/PKctqVcyQJ

— Angela Rivera (@angfrivera) July 15, 2019

Very bold of Rob to assume he would have our collective attention after dropping something adorable like that on us. Luckily, we were all able to regroup and focus on his talk — how there are challenges aplenty in the local search landscape, but there are even more opportunities if you overcome them.

Rob came equipped with a ton of stats about localized SERPs that have massive implications for rank tracking.

73 percent of the 1.2 million SERPs he analyzed contained some kind of localized feature.

25 percent of the sites he was tracking had some degree of variability between markets.

85 percent was the maximum variability he saw across zip codes in a single market.

That’s right… rankings can vary by zip code, even for queries you don’t automatically associate as local intent. Whether you’re a national brand without physical storefronts or you’re a single-location retail store, localization has a huge impact on how you show up to your audience.

With this in mind, Rob announced a huge initiative that Moz has been working on… Local Market Analytics — complete with local search volume! Eep! See how you perform on hyper-local SERPs with precision and ease — whether you’re an online or location-based business.

⁦@STATrob⁩ with a mic drop. All slides are capability reporting in Local Marketing Analytics tool in Moz Pro. #mozcon pic.twitter.com/s5aG9YCxzc

— Jeff Russell (@rock_hawk) July 15, 2019

It launched today as an invitation-only limited release. Want an invite? Request it here!

Ross Simmonds— Keywords Aren't Enough: How to Uncover Content Ideas Worth Chasing

Ross Simmonds was up next, and he dug into how you might be creating content wrong if you’re building it strictly around keyword research.

The methodology we marketers need to remember is Research - Rethink - Remix.

Research:

Find the channel your audience spends time on. What performs well? How can you serve this audience?

Rethink:

Find the content that your audience wants most. What topics resonate? What stories connect?

Remix:

Measure how your audience responds to the content. Can this be remixed further? How can we remix at scale?

Awesome. Ross lays out the process for finding the user / channel / content fit. Here's the framework... Resarch > Rethink > Remix By @TheCoolestCool #mozcon pic.twitter.com/cBRCIZIony

— Andy Crestodina (@crestodina) July 15, 2019

If you use this method and you still aren’t sure if you should pursue a content opportunity, ask yourself the following questions:

Will it give us a positive ROI?

Does it fall within our circle of competence?

Does the benefit outweigh the cost of creation?

Will it give us shares and links and engagement?

Thanks, Ross, for such an actionable session!

Shannon McGuirk — How to Supercharge Link Building with a Digital PR Newsroom

Shannon of Aira Digital took the floor with real-life examples of how her team does link building at scale with what she calls the “digital PR newsroom.”

The truth is, most of us are still link building like it’s 1948 with “planned editorial” content. When we do this, we’re missing out on a ton of opportunity (about 66%!) that can come from reactive editorial and planned reactive editorial.

Shannon encouraged us to try tactics that have worked for her team such as:

Having morning scrum meetings to go over trending topics and find reactive opportunities

Staffing your team with both storytellers and story makers

Holding quarterly reviews to see which content types performed best and using that to inform future work

Her talk was so good that she even changed Cyrus’s mind about link building!

Not an easy thing to do! :) INCREDIBLE talk by @ShannonMcGuirk_ !!! Don't miss her #MozCon deck on strategic link building! https://t.co/f10KGDYt7y

— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 15, 2019

For free resources on how you can set up your own digital PR newsroom, visit: aira.net/mozcon19.

Darren Shaw— From Zero to Local Ranking Hero

Next up, Darren of Whitespark chronicled his 8-month long journey to growing a client’s local footprint.

Here’s what he learned and encouraged us to implement in response:

Track from multiple zip codes around the city

Make sure your citations are indexed

The service area section in GMB won’t help you rank in those areas. It’s for display purposes only

Invest in a Google reviews strategy

The first few links earned really have a positive impact, but it reaches a point of diminishing returns

Any individual strategy will probably hit a point of diminishing returns

A full website is better than a single-page GMB website when it comes to local rankings

As SEOs, we’d all do well to remember that it’s not one specific activity, but the aggregate, that will move the needle!

@DarrenShaw_ is on stage at #MozCon right now sharing all the awesome details of his case study on going From Zero to Local Ranking Hero. Get an inside look into the process, strategies, and tactics implemented on our site! https://t.co/7UXOpcwr5A

— Whitespark (@whitespark) July 15, 2019

Russ Jones — Esse Quam Videri: When Faking it is Harder than Making It

Rounding out day one of MozCon was our very own Russ Jones on Esse Quam Videri — “To be, rather than to seem.”

By Russ’s own admission, he’s a pretty good liar, and so too are many SEOs. In a poll Russ ran on Twitter, he found that 64 percent of SEOs state that they have promoted sites they believe are not the best answer to the query. We can be so “rank-centric” that we engage in tactics that make our websites look like we care about the users, when in reality, what we really care about is that Google sees it.

Russ encouraged SEOs to help guide the businesses we work for to “be real companies” rather than trying to look like real companies purely for SEO benefit.

Thanks to Russ for reminding us to stop sacrificing the long run for the short run!

Really great talk by @rjonesx today! Great mix of philosophical food for thought & actionable takeaways. I left feeling inspired and like I have specific action items. #mozcon #mozcon2019 pic.twitter.com/s46LvWkmIT

— Charissa Hearon (@thatnewidea) July 16, 2019

Phew — what a day!

And it ain't over yet! There are two more days to make the most of MozCon, connect with fellow attendees, and pick the brains of our speakers.

In the meantime, tell me in the comments below — if you had to pick just one thing, what was your favorite part about day one?

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/9375/12673906

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theinjectlikes2 · 5 years

Text

MozCon 2019: The Top Takeaways From Day One

Posted by KameronJenkins

If you're a Moz community member, you can access the slides from Day One. Not a community member yet? Sign up — it's free!

Get the speaker slides!

Ready? Let's make like Roger in his SERP submarine and dive right in!

Sarah's welcome

"Let's lift each other up."@SarahBird This is truly what #MozCon is all about!

— Sha Menz (@ShahMenz) July 15, 2019

Today, Google is a destination. they want to keep you there and give you the answer...@SarahBird #mozcon

— Greg Gifford (@GregGifford) July 15, 2019

Rand Fishkin — Web Search 2019: The Essential Data Marketers Need

Next up was Rand of SparkToro who dropped a ton of data about the state of search in 2019.

Voice search didn’t kill desktop search. Both mobile and desktop are still big. Don’t ignore either. #mozcon @randfish pic.twitter.com/YusAXepmS9

— Yosef Silver (@ysilver) July 15, 2019

In 2019, Google sent ~20 fewer organic clicks via browser searches than in 2016.

In 2016, there were 26 organic clicks for every paid click. In 2019, that ratio is 11:1.

Over time, you can see a trend of Google cannibalizing more and more clicks. In 2016 there were 26 organic clicks/paid click. In 2019? 11:1. Still big but a lot smaller. @randfish #mozcon

— Ruth Burr Reedy (@ruthburr) July 15, 2019

— Jonathan Clarke (@TechnologyJon) July 15, 2019

Ruth Burr Reedy — Human > Machine > Human: Understanding Human-Readable Quality Signals and Their Machine-Readable Equivalents

Ruth argued that in our pursuit of an audience, we can’t get too caught up in the middleman (Google), and in our pursuit of Google, we can’t forget the end user.

Optimizing for humans-only is inefficient. Those who do are likely missing out on a massive opportunity. Optimizing for search engines-only is reactive. Those who do will likely fall behind.

Optimizing for human-readable quality signals means even if something doesn’t turn out to be a ranking factor, you still haven’t wasted your time. #MozCon

— Ruth Burr Reedy (@ruthburr) July 15, 2019

She also left us with the very best kind of homework… homework that’ll make us all better SEOs and marketers!

Read the Quality Rater Guidelines

Ask what your site is currently benefiting from that Google might eliminate or change in the future

Write better (clearer, simpler) content

Examine your SERPs with the goal of understanding search intent so you can meet it

Lean on subject matter experts to make your brand more trustworthy

Conduct a reputation audit — what’s on the internet about your company that people can find?

And last, but certainly not least, stop fighting about this stuff. It’s boring.

Homework: Stop fighting about this stuff, it’s boring #MozCon

— Ruth Burr Reedy (@ruthburr) July 15, 2019

Thank you, Ruth!

Dana DiTomaso — Improved Reporting & Analytics Within Google Tools

Freshly fueled with cinnamon buns and glowing with the energy of a thousand jolts of caffeine, we were ready to dive back into it — this time with Dana from Kick Point.

This year was a continuation of Dana’s talk on goal charters. If you haven’t checked that out yet or you need a refresher, you can view it here!

She also blew us away with a ton of great insight on making our reports accessible — from getting rid of jargon and using the client’s language to using colors that are compatible with printing.

— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 15, 2019

And just when we thought it couldn’t get any more actionable, Dana drops some free Google Data Studio resources on us! You can check them out here.

(Also, close your tabs!)

Rob Bucci — Local Market Analytics: The Challenges and Opportunities

The first thing you need to know is that Rob finally did it — he finally got a cat.

.@STATrob kicked off his preso with a kitten and I couldn’t be more interested in local SEO now. #mozcon pic.twitter.com/PKctqVcyQJ

— Angela Rivera (@angfrivera) July 15, 2019

Rob came equipped with a ton of stats about localized SERPs that have massive implications for rank tracking.

73 percent of the 1.2 million SERPs he analyzed contained some kind of localized feature.

25 percent of the sites he was tracking had some degree of variability between markets.

85 percent was the maximum variability he saw across zip codes in a single market.

⁦@STATrob⁩ with a mic drop. All slides are capability reporting in Local Marketing Analytics tool in Moz Pro. #mozcon pic.twitter.com/s5aG9YCxzc

— Jeff Russell (@rock_hawk) July 15, 2019

It launched today as an invitation-only limited release. Want an invite? Request it here!

Ross Simmonds— Keywords Aren't Enough: How to Uncover Content Ideas Worth Chasing

Ross Simmonds was up next, and he dug into how you might be creating content wrong if you’re building it strictly around keyword research.

The methodology we marketers need to remember is Research - Rethink - Remix.

Research:

Find the channel your audience spends time on. What performs well? How can you serve this audience?

Rethink:

Find the content that your audience wants most. What topics resonate? What stories connect?

Remix:

Measure how your audience responds to the content. Can this be remixed further? How can we remix at scale?

Awesome. Ross lays out the process for finding the user / channel / content fit. Here's the framework... Resarch > Rethink > Remix By @TheCoolestCool #mozcon pic.twitter.com/cBRCIZIony

— Andy Crestodina (@crestodina) July 15, 2019

If you use this method and you still aren’t sure if you should pursue a content opportunity, ask yourself the following questions:

Will it give us a positive ROI?

Does it fall within our circle of competence?

Does the benefit outweigh the cost of creation?

Will it give us shares and links and engagement?

Thanks, Ross, for such an actionable session!

Shannon McGuirk — How to Supercharge Link Building with a Digital PR Newsroom

Shannon of Aira Digital took the floor with real-life examples of how her team does link building at scale with what she calls the “digital PR newsroom.”

Shannon encouraged us to try tactics that have worked for her team such as:

Having morning scrum meetings to go over trending topics and find reactive opportunities

Staffing your team with both storytellers and story makers

Holding quarterly reviews to see which content types performed best and using that to inform future work

Her talk was so good that she even changed Cyrus’s mind about link building!

Not an easy thing to do! :) INCREDIBLE talk by @ShannonMcGuirk_ !!! Don't miss her #MozCon deck on strategic link building! https://t.co/f10KGDYt7y

— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 15, 2019

For free resources on how you can set up your own digital PR newsroom, visit: aira.net/mozcon19.

Darren Shaw— From Zero to Local Ranking Hero

Next up, Darren of Whitespark chronicled his 8-month long journey to growing a client’s local footprint.

Here’s what he learned and encouraged us to implement in response:

Track from multiple zip codes around the city

Make sure your citations are indexed

The service area section in GMB won’t help you rank in those areas. It’s for display purposes only

Invest in a Google reviews strategy

The first few links earned really have a positive impact, but it reaches a point of diminishing returns

Any individual strategy will probably hit a point of diminishing returns

A full website is better than a single-page GMB website when it comes to local rankings

As SEOs, we’d all do well to remember that it’s not one specific activity, but the aggregate, that will move the needle!

— Whitespark (@whitespark) July 15, 2019

Russ Jones — Esse Quam Videri: When Faking it is Harder than Making It

Rounding out day one of MozCon was our very own Russ Jones on Esse Quam Videri — “To be, rather than to seem.”

Russ encouraged SEOs to help guide the businesses we work for to “be real companies” rather than trying to look like real companies purely for SEO benefit.

Thanks to Russ for reminding us to stop sacrificing the long run for the short run!

— Charissa Hearon (@thatnewidea) July 16, 2019

Phew — what a day!

And it ain't over yet! There are two more days to make the most of MozCon, connect with fellow attendees, and pick the brains of our speakers.

In the meantime, tell me in the comments below — if you had to pick just one thing, what was your favorite part about day one?

from The Moz Blog https://ift.tt/2Z0w1eD via IFTTT

#IFTTT #The Moz Blog

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